Congress

Headlines about the "cocaine congressman voting to drug test food stamp recipients" are at best only technically accurate, and miss the support Rep. Radel has shown for compassionate sentencing reform.

Utah is getting organized for marijuana law reform, the NAACP is supporting a "states' rights" federal marijuana bill, attention turns to the drug war south of the border in Washington, and more.

The big news today is yesterday's surprising appeals court ruling allowing the NYPD to continue stop-and-frisk searches, but there's more as well on marijuana reform, drug testing, and a conference in New Zealand.

Here's our first try at altering our format to continue to bring you comprehensive coverage of what's going on in the war on drugs and the world of drug reform. Look for this or something similar on a daily basis from now on.

A bipartisan group of House members have introduced a bill that would exempt states that have passed medical marijuana or marijuana legalization law from federal marijuana law enforcement.

A pair of federal bills that would allow states to tax and regulate marijuana had a coming out party at a press conference Tuesday. And there are more bills to come, their authors said.

The times they are a-changing, if Tuesdays Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on marijuana policy is any indication. Only one senator suffered from Reefer Madness; the others wanted to figure out how to make things work.

Five Democratic congressmen are calling on the White House to nominate a new drug czar who is not a cop but a scientist and who will set policy based on science, evidence, and fact.

Sens. Patrick Leahy and Rand Paul led the charge for mandatory minimum sentencing reform at a Judiciary Committee hearing last week. The adminstration and the federal judiciary are already on board; now, it's time for Congress to step up to the plate.

Hemp advocates are emboldened by last month's Justice Department guidance on marijuana reform in the states and are moving forward, both on Capitol Hill and in the states.